UK government grants GBP91.7 million funding for four green auto technology projects

The UK government has granted a combined GBP91.7 million ($125.5 million) in funding for four projects developing green technology in the auto sector.

The four projects have been awarded the government and industry funding through the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) Collaborative Research and Development competition, which was founded in 2013 to support the development of innovative low-carbon automotive technology.

The government, which is planning to ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars by 2030 and heavy goods vehicles by 2040, said Aug. 18 that the four projects could save nearly 32 million mt of carbon emissions, equivalent to the lifetime emissions of 1.3 million cars.

Plug-in light duty EV sales in the UK are expected to rise to 585,000 units in 2025 and 958,000 units in 2030, up from 175,000 units in 2020, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics.

This is the 18th round of funding coordinated by the APC in its efforts to collaborate with the government, automotive industry and academia to accelerate the industrialization of technologies to assist the transition to net-zero emission vehicles.

The aim of the funding is for the projects to address common concerns hindering the adoption of electric vehicles, including charge times, driving range, affordability, efficiency and convenience.

BMW UK was one of the companies awarded GBP26.2 million for its BMW-UK-BEV project in Oxford, which aims to develop an electric battery that would rival the driving range of internal combustion engines.

While it was not specified what type of technology would be used, BMW said in April that it planned to develop a solid-state battery for use in EVs by the end of the decade, with the first demonstrator vehicle using the battery expected before 2025.

The REEcorner project in Nuneaton received GBP41.2 million to radically redesign light and medium-sized commercial EVs by moving the steering, breaking, suspension and powertrain into the wheel arch, which it said would enable increased autonomous capability, storage space and design flexibility.

The government also granted GBP9.7 million to Project CELERITAS in Birmingham to create ultra-fast charging batteries for EVs and fuel cell hybrid vehicles that can charge in as little as 12 minutes.

On the hydrogen side, the BRUNEL project in Darlington received a GBP14.6 million grant to develop a novel zero emission, hydrogen-fueled engine to help decarbonize heavy goods vehicles.

UK Minister for Investment Lord Grimstone said that by investing in the technology required to decarbonize transportation, the government was working to combat climate change and to ensure the automotive sector was competitive in the future.

"Seizing the opportunities that arise from the global green automotive revolution is central to our plans to build back greener, and these winning projects will help make the widespread application and adoption of cutting-edge, clean automotive technology a reality," Grimstone said.